


The (After) Life of the Party

by AryaWinchester



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Chris POV, Climbing Class, Epilogue, First Kiss, Fluff, Jess vs Em, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5412812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AryaWinchester/pseuds/AryaWinchester
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once the survivors get down the mountain and are interviewed, all Chris wants to know is where his best friend is.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The (After) Life of the Party

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in September, but put off posting it. My friend, Bryn, helped edit it, but if there are any mistakes we didn't catch, please tell me. I will fix it right away.  
> Rated teen for language, but its about the same as it was in the game so...  
> UPDATE: Changed the title. It sounded weird to me, so I fixed it  
> Title from Fall Out Boy

“Josh!” Chris called out, looking around. “Josh. Shit...”

Police swarmed the bottom of the mountain, taking care of things. Chris had seen almost everyone. Everyone except Josh.

Josh...

He ran up to the closest cop.

“Excuse me, sir. Sir?” he tapped the man on the shoulder until he looked up.

“Yes?” his eyes showed how little sleep he had gotten.

“I’m one of the survivors and-”

Chris was cut off. “Survivors? What are you doing here? You need to go to the building.” The cop pointed to a run down shack beside the ski lift building.

He sighed. “Yes, I know. I was already there. I was just wondering if you found my friend. Josh? His family owned the lodge. Ya know, before it blew up?”

The cop checked his notepad, looking through pages and pages of illegible writing. “Nope. No Josh. Now go find your friends.”

“Argh. That's-That is exactly what I’m trying to do.” Chris ran his hands through his hair, ready to rip it out. “Fine. If anyone finds Josh, tell him that Chris would like to talk to him.”

The cop waved him away. “Okay, I will. Now go talk to the other survivors.”

Chris glared at him, but walked away, back to the building. He wasn’t ready to deal with this.

He walked in and caught sight of a small hand waving to him. “Chris!”

He ran over to the Sam. The rest of the group was there, too.

Except for Josh.

“Omigod, Chris. I was so worried.” Sam had her arms around Ashley, who was crying and still covered in blood, a blanket draped over the two of them. “We weren’t sure if you had made it.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” he wrapped his arms around the two of them. “Is everyone here? Did everyone get down?”

Mike walked over and threw an arm around Chris and Sam. “Everyone except Josh.”

Except Josh…

Chris nodded as Jess came over and squeezed herself between them, a blanket around her, too.

“He really was fucking insane, wasn’t he? He had no idea… No idea.” Matt just shook his head, and sat down on a bench beside Ashley.

The six of them sat there, Sam holding Ashley, Chris around the two of them, Mike's arm over Chris and Jessica's shoulders, and Matt leaning against Sam.

“Wow, a real bonding moment, huh?” Emily’s sarcastic voice shattered their thoughts.

Sam whipped her head around to glare. “We just went through some traumatic shit, Emily, so sorry if we’re a bit clingy. Only we saw what happened.”

“I know,” Emily bit back. “I was there too, remember? Mike was going to fucking shoot me! How do you think I feel? I could’ve died!”

“We all could’ve died, Em. I’m sorry to say it, but you have to get over yourself.” Matt spoke up. “We all went through varying degrees of the same shit.”

“You too, Matt? Really?” she looked at her boyfriend. “You’re supposed to be on my side. Oh, except you abandoned me to save yourself.”

Matt stood up, towering over her. “Yeah, I saved myself. If I hadn’t I probably would’ve been lost down there. I could’ve… I don’t know, wandered off a cliff and died? And besides, I was going to come looking for you.”

“Oh, really? You were coming to look for me, but you found that slut Jessica inst-”

“Hey! Guys!” Mike barked at them. Jess looked ready to pounce on Emily. “Be quiet. We all survived. Be grateful that you’re down here and not still on that godforsaken mountain, freezing to death,” he turned to Em and looked her dead in the eyes. “Or worse.”

“We all survived, except Josh.” Emily muttered, kicking a stone.

Chris shuddered again and let go of the girls, instead opting to sit beside them.

Except Josh.

Ashley leaned her head on Sam's shoulder, who refused to let go. The two of them seemed bonded at the hip.

Mike had sat down, Jess still at his side, and was running his fingers through his hair and down his face. Jess kissed his cheek and whispered something into his ear. He smiled slightly, but said nothing back.

They had been quiet for a while. Emily had stormed off somewhere and Matt probably followed to apologize, so at least they didn’t have to listen to anymore arguing.

A cop came over to check up on them. “How are you doing? Handling everything okay?”

“How do you think we’re doing?” Jessica seemed to take on Emily’s sarcasm for a moment, just enough to make Sam shoot her a look and respond to the cop politely.

Ashley’s eyes were rimmed with tears, red and puffy all around. She looked to Chris.

“Will… Will you be okay?”

“Hm?” He looked back at her. “I told you, I’ll be fine. The dark might scare me for a bit, but nothing a few psych visits can’t help with.” he tried to joke, but it fell flat.

“I meant about Josh.” Ashley and Sam moved a bit closer to him. “I know how much he means to you.”

“Oh,” Josh. “That.” Chris started to tear up too, but he wiped them away. He had to be strong while everyone else was falling apart. That was usually Josh’s job. Chris had only seen him cry a handful of times, most of them being in the last year after his sisters…

Sam reached around Ashley and put a hand on Chris’ shoulder. “We’ll be okay. Well, maybe not totally okay, but mostly. We still have each other. We can talk to each other.” Always the optimist.

Chris nodded. “Thank you.”

“Just think, if that kid hadn’t been misbehaving in class that one day, you would have never met Josh. You would have never seen exactly how amazing he is.” Sam rubbed his shoulder.

“I wouldn’t have been here…” Chris responded.

On the other bench Mike murmured, “Butterfly Effect.”

“Butterfly Effect.” Chris agreed.

“Boom.” Sam said, mimicking Chris from the night before.

When everything was normal.

****  
  


Chris didn’t know when he dozed off, but it must’ve been for a while. His fingers were numb through the gloves that the police had provided them with, and his glasses had fogged up again. Sam had been shaking him.

“What is it?” he looked around and noticed a lot of the cops were speaking through their walkie talkies.

“They found something. On the mountain.”

Chris shot up, wide awake, knocking Ashley off his shoulder. She jumped and looked around. “What's happening?”

He didn’t hear her, instead taking off toward the nearest officer. He overheard someone over the radio say “...wandering around. Probably frostbitten. We’ll need a medic to take a look.”

He ran up to the lady cop. “Is it Josh?”

“Who?” she questioned back.

“Joshua Washington. His… The lodge belongs to his family.”

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. They found what we’re assuming is another survivor. They say male, dark hair, your age. He’ll be back here soon.”

Chris looked to the sky, which was now becoming a light blue.

He sat back down next to Ashley. Emily and Matt had somehow made up and were now cuddling on a bench near the door of the building.

Sam’s eyes were red like Ashley’s. She had been crying too. Strong willed Sam had been crying.

“What… What happened?”

Chris took a deep breath, letting it out again slow and waivering. “I think they found Josh.”

“What?” Mike sat up, awakening Jess. “They found him?”

“I-I think so.” I hope so.

Another helicopter came down a little while later. They could hear it from inside the cable car house. Chris was already sprinting over when the door opened and a boy in blue coveralls got out.

“Josh!” Chris called, his voice breaking.

A medic stood in his way. “I’m sorry, but we need to check him first.”

“No!” Chris tried to push past, screaming. “No! I need to get to him. I… He needs me.”

“Give us five minutes. Ten tops, then you can see him.”

Chris dropped to his knees, tears started crawling down his cheeks, blurring his vision so all he could see was the white snow he had fallen into and his own jeans.

“Josh…” he sobbed.

Someone must’ve waved him over, because suddenly Mike was beside him, pulling him up. He distantly heard Matt asking why they hadn’t been taken home yet.

They somehow made it back to the building, and Chris was lowered onto a bench. Sam had wrapped a blanket around him.

He didn’t know how long it had been, but a medic came over knocked on the outside wall of the building. Chris looked up at the sound.

The medic walked over to Chris. “Your friend, Josh, seems stable enough to talk to. We gave him some medication and talked to him a bit. He… He's not fully out of it. Do you know how long he had been off his meds?”

He shook his head, still crying. “I’m not sure. I didn’t even know he was off... He was acting strange but... I’m not sure.” he started repeating it again, not sure if he had said it aloud.

“It's okay.” The medic replied. “Would you like to see him?”

Chris was already up and walking, not sure where he was going.

The medic pointed him in the right direction and followed as he began to jog.

“Chris? What are you doing here?” the familiar voice drifted to the blond.

Josh.

Chris ran to the second ambulance, taking his friend in his arms. “Never ever do that again.”

“You’re mad at me?” Josh looked up, confused. “Why?”

Chris shut his eyes and took a deep breath. “Please. Just… Don’t.”

They were quiet.

Josh smiled. “Have I ever told you how pretty your eyes are? They’re very… Pretty.”

The medic butt in. “As I said, he's still not fully out of it.”

Chris didn’t care. He nodded to the medic and looked into Josh’s deep eyes. “No, you haven’t.”

“Well, they are. Really pretty.” Josh smiled even bigger and leaned up, pressing his mouth to Chris’.

Chris was surprised, but accepted. His lips were cold and there was a bit of dry blood from the bottom one splitting, but otherwise he was perfect.

When they pulled apart, Josh grinned. “And you’re a good kisser! Who knew?”

There was still a hint of maniac in his eyes. It made Chris shiver. It was either that, or he had been in this stupid cold for too long.

Chris smiled, starting to cry again. Josh joined in, not understanding what was happening.

An officer pulled Chris away. “It's time to go. You can talk more later, when he's stable.”

He nodded and allowed her to put him into the back of a car with Sam and Ashley, looking back at Josh until he was out of sight. The two girls smiled at him, but didn’t know why this conflict of emotions had been pulled forward. Smiling and crying?

“What is it?” Ashley asked, resting a hand on his arm.

Chris turned to her. “It's nothing.”

“You’re smiling.” Sam pointed out.

“Yeah?”

“After this-this… traumatic night we just had?”

Chris nodded. “Josh is back. They said that if he stays on his meds and cooperates with his psychology meetings he’ll eventually be fine. I’m going to help him.”

Ashley gave a small smile. “So are we.”

“But I love him.”

“Really?” she said kindly, exchanging a slightly confused glance with Sam. “That… That's great, Chris. I’m sure he loves you too.”

“Well I hope so! He's the one who kissed me!” Chris wiped tears off of Ashley’s cheeks. “Don’t cry. We’re safe. We’ll be okay.”

Sam kissed Ashley’s cheek. “Yeah, don’t cry. We’re all okay. We’re survivors.”

When they made it back to the city, they immediately went to the hospital to get everything that couldn’t be done in the snow and cold.

There was nothing much for Chris, so he sat beside Mike as he got the bandages on his fingers changed. They weren’t the best of friends, but Chris had a feeling this trip brought them a bit closer.

Ashley had just gotten another ice pack for her eye, and Emily got her ankle checked out.

Chris joined Sam in the waiting room after a little while, but they just sat in silence. Chris braided and unbraided her shoulder length hair, while she leaned against him.

He thought about everything that had happened in the past day, mulling it over.

Would they ever be normal again? Would this group stick together?

There was little hope for Matt and Emily, but Mike and Jess seemed pretty sturdy. And he and Josh had been friends for so long, Chris didn’t even want to think about it. Ashley and Sam had something going on, perhaps a stronger relationship than he had thought.

He doubted anything would ever be the same.

He just hoped that he and Josh didn’t just end up back in a rut, being best friends and nothing more.

Chris wanted something more.

**12 months later**

“It has been a year since our… Adventure.” Josh’s voice came through the speaker of Sam’s computer. Ashley watched over her shoulder. “Now I know what you’re thinking. ‘Josh, please don’t make us go back ever ever again.’ Well good news! I have mostly gotten my mind back so I can make rational decisions.”

“With the help of me!” Chris’s voice came from off screen.

“Yes, with the help of Chris, we have decided that a nice dinner would be best, at our place. I want to check up on everyone. I haven’t seen a few of you for, what, three months? Four? And I am so, so, so sorry. How many times have I said that the past year, Chris? A thousand?” he yelled to the right again. “Anyway, please join us for a night of partying like, uh, I don’t know. Grown ups? No, that sounds boring. Whatever. Please come to dinner at our place on the one year anniversary. No pranks. I promise.”

The video kept playing, but Sam was already typing the info into her phone.

Finally, everything might be getting back to normal.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I want to continue this??? Maybe write the dinner scene??? Please comment on things. I love feedback.  
> Read, Write, Love


End file.
